Trump condemns AOC and NYC mayor for laughing during 9/11 ceremony

President Donald Trump criticized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani after a video showed the two appearing to laugh during the solemn reading of victims' names at the 9/11 memorial ceremony marking the attacks' 25th anniversary.

"I think it’s terrible. It’s not a place to be laughing, especially in that case," Trump said when asked about the footage. The clip, which circulated on social media, captured the pair smiling and seeming to laugh while the names of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing were being read. Their conversation was not audible. Republican lawmakers and commentators condemned the moment as disrespectful, with Rep. Wesley Hunt writing that "there is a time and a place for politics" and that Ground Zero is "sacred ground." Mayor Mamdani had faced a petition signed by more than 110,000 victims' families urging him to skip the ceremony, but he attended and remained for the event. Supporters of the mayor argued that the footage was misinterpreted, noting that other officials were also laughing and that the camera may have captured only a brief greeting. Fox News reached out to both officials for comment but did not receive a response.